New Oakland International Airport rental car fee begins April 1

(Oakland, CA) -- Travelers and others who rent vehicles at Oakland International Airport will pay an additional $10 surcharge for each rental beginning April 1. Revenues collected from the fee will help improve rental car services by funding new customer transportation and shared use facilities to be built at the airport.

The Port of Oakland, which manages the airport’s operations, estimates the fees will raise $6 million a year. State law AB 491, which allows the airport to make this charge, was signed by the Governor on October 9, 2001 and went into effect January 1.

On March 5th the Board of Port Commissioners approved the new customer facility charge (CFC) to be collected by the rental car agencies operating at the airport. The charge to rental car customers at Oakland International Airport is reflective of similar customer facility charges already in place at San Jose and San Francisco International airports.

Car renters will pay the $10 charge if they pick up their car from a rental company operating at the airport. Customers renting from companies operating near the airport will pay $6 to defray transportation costs. The seven rental car companies now serving Oakland International include Hertz, Avis, Budget, National, Dollar, Thrifty and Enterprise.

The revenue generated will assist in the design and construction of an interim and a permanent combined rental car facility. The funds will also be used to offset the cost of busing customers to the interim rental car site, to be located north of the terminals on the North Field. The interim site will be operational in early 2003, and all rental car customers will be bused to the site, either to pick up their cars there, or to be picked up by shuttle buses going to off airport companies.

"The interim facility is needed to provide uninterrupted convenient service to rental car customers while the new parking garage is being built," said Steve Grossman, the Port’s director of aviation. The current location of the rental car companies is within the immediate construction area needed for the new seven-story parking garage. Construction on that project, one of several in the planned $1.4 billion terminal expansion project, is slated to begin in early 2003.

Rental contracts must also separately identify the fee. Money collected from the fee can only go toward ground transportation or consolidated rental facilities.